Minutes for the Feb. 10 Trustees Meeting

The meeting convened at 7 p.m. at the library. Present were Cindy Binzen, Miriam Newman, Curt Albee, Carol Wilson, Melissa Strayton (librarian),  and Marty Frank.

Minutes from the January meeting were approved.

Librarian’s Report: Melissa asked the trustees about the query from Carol Langstaff proposing to use the library as a contact point for making her large collection of tableware available for borrowing, and the trustees raised no objections. Carol will handle arrangements and keep the collection in her possession; the library will merely let people know about it. Margie Carpenter will be coming to the library on March 2 with her therapy dog who will be available as a friendly listener to children who want to read aloud; Melissa will handle the publicity. A new “Open” sign to hang on the front door that was created and donated by Marianne Wakerlin is already in use. Carol will send her a thank-you note.

Two teens will be volunteering at the library to fulfill their community-service requirement. Melissa said she needs to contact Mike Tisdale to upgrade the operating systems — they’re still using Windows 7, which is no longer being supported — and to set up the circulation laptop. The trustees suggested that Doug Erhard be contacted if Mike is booked. EC Fiber has informed customers that it will be raising rates for its internet/phone service, although the library’s increase will be minimal because of the adjustment we receive for our nonprofit status. Costs for the courier service that handles materials circulating through the interstate library loan program are also going up — Green Mountain will be charging $20 for each pickup, a $5 increase — and will cost us an additional $200 yearly. The state may seek other vendors to bid on the annual contract. Melissa stressed that the service has been significantly improved since the days when the materials were shipped through the postal service. Our patrons downloaded 16 programs from the Kanopy streaming service — at a cost of $37 to us — which is almost exactly what we budgeted for.

Miscellaneous: Curt is working on finding someone to repair the fallen slate tile from the roof; a painter has been lined up. Shawn Harlow returned and fixed the leak in the basement.

Carol presented her mock-up of lettering for the new sign; the board generally liked it, although it has a couple of questions for Will Cooney, who’s helping us design it. Cindy has located three fire extinguishers in the building (none in the basement). She’s going to ask Shawn Harlow if they need servicing or replacing. Cindy thinks we should put together a toolbox to have available at the the library. Curt will organize it.

Cindy suggested we explore investing in the new community solar farm that B.A.L.E. is putting together in South Royalton. Marty will gather information for the next meeting. The personnel committee will meet with Melissa on Feb. 19 at 1.

Miriam moved to go into executive session at 7:55, to discuss personnel. The board agreed unanimously. The board returned to regular session at. 8:10

Our next meeting will be on March 9 at 7 p.m. at the library.

Submitted by Marty Frank